AP EUROPEAN HISTORY:
- HOW TO “SLAY THE
BEAST!!!”
Meet “THE BEAST”
(aka: AP Euro. History Exam)
*Section 1: 80 Multiple Choice Questions ((A-E) - 55 minutes = 50% of the exam
grade)
*Section 2:
DBQ ESSAY (~45 minutes
= 22.5% of the
grade)
FRQ #1 (1 response from 3
topics; ~35 min.= 13.75%)
FRQ #2 (1 response from 3
topics; ~35 min.= 13.75%)
SELF-DOUBT / OVERCONFIDENCE
“WEAPONS” AGAINST
“THE BEAST”
Background knowledge/Experience
Resilience
Focus during the exam
Time management
Historic Thinking
Skills
Primary Source
Analysis
Essay writing
Support from fellow
students & the teacher
Note-Taking / Studying
Mastering Specific “Weapons”
Note-Taking:
• Come up with a method that works for you!
• My preferred note-taking style – POWER THINKING NOTES
(PTN)
• PTN Method – Organizes information into important ideas,
details of those important ideas, details of the details of those
important ideas, etc.
• PTN Method requires ACTIVE THINKING (stopping
consistently while reading the textbook and figuring out what
to record)
• While executing PTN, DO NOT use complete sentences
(unless you are writing a definition). Instead, use
abbreviations, symbols, acronyms, etc.
• PTN works best if you do not procrastinate!!! (5-8 pages /
night)
Power 1 = Main Idea
Power 2 = Supporting Details for Power 1
Power 3 = Supporting Details for Power 2
Example: (see p.338)
Ch.12: Recovery and Rebirth…
P1: Meaning and Characteristics of the Italian
Renaissance (R)
P2: R=rebirth (Italy)
P3: interest in Greco-Roman culture
P3: !!! Individuality and secularism
P4: …
P2: R.Italy = urban
P3: mid-14th cen. – independent cities
P4: wealthy centers
P2:  main idea of the next paragraph!!!
P3: details of the main idea…
Mastering Specific “Weapons”
(cont.)
Primary Source Analysis
LINK TO PPT:
HOW to ANALYZE PRIMARY SOURCES
Example:
Source: Henry Knighton, Augustinian Monk.
Essay Writing in AP Euro. Class:
DBQs
document based questions
FRQs:
free response questions
• 1 topic - 10-16 docs. (12
docs. on the exam lately!)
• Basic core vs. Expanded
core points (exam vs. my
class – see grading rubrics)
• Critical skills:
*Primary source analysis
*Thesis construction
*”Chunk” paragraph skills
adjusted to the DBQ format!
• Two subgroups – 3 topics in
each – One response per
subgroup.
• Grading rubric – varies
depending on the topic (will
be provided in my class!)
• Critical skills:
*Thesis construction
*Mastery of content (specific
evidence)
*”Chunk” paragraph skills
DBQ Writing Handout
(coming up in class!)
•
•
•
•
Explanation of grading rubrics
Step by step instructions
Practice with individual primary sources
DBQ on the Black Death (practice in class)
FRQ Writing Handout
(coming up in class)
• Explanation of the grading rubric
• Step by step instructions
• Practice with content related topics
Other Historical Thinking Skills
The list includes, but is not limited to:
• Chronological reasoning (causation,
periodization, continuity/change-patterns
over time!)
• Comparison and contextualization (+
connection to larger historic processes)
Example:
Fascism, the more it considers and observes the
future and the development of humanity quite apart
from political considerations of the moment, believes
neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual
peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of
cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up
to its highest tension all human energy…...Fascism
denies, in democracy, the absur[d] conventional
untruth of political equality dressed out in the garb of
collective irresponsibility, and the myth of "happiness"
and indefinite progress....
Benito Mussolini, What is Fascism, 1932.